- Flemish:
- Brussel
- French:
- Bruxelles
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Government
A major political centre since the 15th century, Brussels was the historic capital of the duchy of Brabant. The city became the capital of independent Belgium in 1830; it also continued as the capital of the Belgian province of Brabant until 1995, when the latter was divided into separate provinces, Walloon Brabant and Flemish Brabant. (Wavre and Leuven, respectively, are now the capitals of those provinces.) Today the Royal Palace, the Palace of the Nation, and other national government buildings remain within the historic city centre.
Belgium’s national authorities share power with the country’s three regions (Flanders, Wallonia, and the Brussels-Capital Region) and with the major language communities of the country (Flemish, French, and German). Besides constituting one of the country’s three federal regions, Brussels also is the capital of both the Flemish- and the French-language communities.
The Brussels-Capital Region is governed by legislative and executive branches. The legislature, the Council of the Region, comprises several dozen regional representatives, each elected for a five-year term by eligible voters in the 19 communes. Every five years the Council of the Region elects the executive branch, composed of a number of executive officers, one of whom serves as minister-president.
In 1836 the Belgian parliament passed the “organic” communal law, which provided for the autonomy of each commune. This explains why Greater Brussels was long governed by 19 separate communal authorities and not by one single authority. Today, although together they constitute the Brussels-Capital Region, the 19 communes of Brussels continue to have their own councils and municipal establishments.
In addition to hosting national, regional, and communal government institutions, Brussels is home to the executive components of the EU: the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. Moreover, Brussels hosts the committee sessions of the EU’s legislative branch, the European Parliament. (Plenary sessions are held in Strasbourg, France.) Brussels is also the seat of the EU’s Committee of the Regions and its Economic and Social Committee.
Public services
Brussels’s communal services proliferated after 1830 as the city’s population grew and became more mobile. The effect of larger scale and greater mobility meant growth in existing administrative departments as well as the creation of many new ones, such as water, gas, and electricity administrations and departments for youth and sports, the aged, burial services, and education and the fine arts. In many areas, however, individual communal interests and priorities held sway over those of the integral Brussels agglomeration until the latter part of the 20th century.
With the federalization of Belgium, the Brussels-Capital Region became responsible for providing many public services to the residents of the entire region. Among its many competencies, the region has jurisdiction over land-use regulations, housing, road and waterway networks, the port and its ancillary facilities, regional public transit, vocational training and workers’ unemployment compensation, environmental protection, and cultural preservation. Since Brussels is the home of the federal government, the regional government consults with federal authorities on questions of urban-regional planning, public works, and transportation. The Brussels-Capital Region also has assumed responsibility for fire and ambulance services, which used to be under the jurisdiction of the prefederal Brussels agglomeration. Police services, however, are carried out by federal and local police forces, and local forces are each responsible for a number of communes within the region.
Education
Since 1989 the management of education in the Brussels-Capital Region has been largely in the hands of the country’s French- and Flemish-language communities, which oversee parallel systems of primary and secondary public schools. Families of any linguistic background may send their children to either Flemish-language or French-language public schools. There is also a system of state-subsidized religious schools, known as “free” schools, as well as a network of elite private schools, many of which cater to the international community. Notable providers of public higher education in the region include the Free University of Brussels (founded 1834; divided since 1970 into separate French- and Flemish-speaking universities) and some faculties of the French-language branch of the Catholic University of Leuven (Université Catholique de Louvain).
Cultural life
The two outstanding periods in Brussels’s cultural history were the late medieval flowering under the Burgundians (most of the town’s Gothic churches date from this era) and the late 19th to early 20th century, when Brussels was a centre of innovation in literature, theatre, architecture, and painting. The Art Nouveau architects Henry van de Velde and Victor Horta and the Surrealist painters Paul Delvaux and René Magritte were among the most influential figures of the latter period. Brussels in the early 21st century remains a cultural centre with a cosmopolitan feel.
In addition to the Free University, the royal academies of science, medicine, French language and literature, and Flemish language and literature are based in Brussels, as are various other institutes of higher learning, including the largest branch of the National Archives, the Royal Library of Belgium, and many museums of national or local importance. Foremost among the city’s theatres are the French-language National Theatre and the bilingual national opera house, La Monnaie (Flemish: De Munt). The Palace of Fine Arts, designed by Horta and opened in 1928, provides a cultural centre for those interested in the visual arts, film, music, literature, and the theatre. Most of the city’s large-scale art exhibitions are presented there, and it is also the headquarters of the Philharmonic Society. The Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium, in which prizes are awarded for piano, voice, and violin performances, as well as for new compositions, attracts worldwide interest.
Historically, Flemish and French speakers had their own cultural circuits in Brussels. Broadly speaking, Flemish-language cultural life remains more in evidence in the northwestern part of the agglomeration and French-language culture in the centre and southeast. As with education, cultural policy in the Brussels-Capital Region has been directed since 1989 by the country’s French- and Flemish-language communities. Alongside the 19 communes, they organize cultural events and provide financing. The federal government, however, is responsible for the national opera and orchestra companies, as well as the Palace of Fine Arts.
Not far from the urban centre are scenic walks in the magnificent beech groves of the Soignes Forest (Zoniënwoud) and its offshoot, the Cambre (Ter Kameren) Woods. The city’s main sports stadium is located in Heysel (Heizel), a northern district of the Brussels commune where the 1958 World Exhibition was held and where the iconic Atomium, a structure built for that exhibition, still stands.